Perry rolls out flat tax plan

Rick Perry, whose presidential campaign to date has largely focused on his accomplishments as Texas governor, expanded his scope Tuesday in South Carolina, where he formally unveiled a flat tax proposal designed to stimulate the economy and cut taxes.

The Perry plan, unveiled at an Upstate plastics company, comes at a time when Perry is rebooting his campaign after nosediving in the polls and losing ground to candidates like Herman Cain, whose 9-9-9 tax proposal has captured widespread attention.

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The Texas governor’s plan, dubbed “Cut, Balance and Grow,” would allow taxpayers to choose between the current system and a 20 percent flat tax on their income. The new tax system, he said, would allow people to dispense with the hiring of experts each spring to help prepare their tax forms.

“Each individual taxpayer will have a choice: you can continue to pay taxes, as well as accountants and lawyers under the current system,” he said. “Or, you can file your taxes on a postcard, with deductions only for interest on a mortgage, charitable giving, and state and local tax payments.”

Not once during the 24-minute address in Gray Court did Perry cite his decade-long record as Texas governor. Instead he reiterated his five-point Social Security plan — an idea similar to former President George W. Bush’s failed second-term proposal for personal retirement accounts — and his Medicare proposal, which would raise the eligibility age and adjust benefits based on income.

“If we don’t act, in 25 years benefits will be slashed 23 percent overnight,” he said. “Protecting Social Security benefits begins with protecting the solvency of the fund, and stopping all current borrowing from the fund, just as we have done with the highway trust fund.”

Perry avoided mentioning GOP front-runner Mitt Romney by name, but he took a shot at the former Massachusetts governor’s 59-point economic proposal by suggesting it is more conventional that what he is proposing.

“My plan does not trim around the edges,” he said. “And it does not bow down to the established interests. But it is the kind of bold reform needed to jolt this economy out of its doldrums, and renew American prosperity. Those who oppose it will wrap themselves in the cloak of the status quo.”

Perry’s aides hoped to focus his day around the economic message, but much of the political attention remains redirected to his comments, published Sunday in Parade magazine, that he has doubts about the veracity of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate.

Asked about it by New York Times/CNBC correspondent John Harwood during an interview broadcast Tuesday morning, Perry said it is “fun” to raise the issue, which propelled Donald Trump’s political ambition this spring despite being widely discredited.